Ugo Monye, the Harlequins wing, could be in line to win his first England cap
in over two years after earning a surprise recall to Stuart Lancaster’s
squad for the autumn international series.

Monye, who won the last of his 13 caps in the Six Nations draw against Scotland at Murrayfield in March 2010, is understood to have seen off the challenges of promising young talent such as Gloucester’s Jonny May and Wasps wing Christian Wade to replace Ben Foden in the 32-man squad for the Tests against Fiji, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

The 29 year-old’s international career looked to have stalled when he was overlooked for the England elite player squad in July, despite having gone on the tour of South Africa the previous month.

His hopes of impressing on the tour were severely hampered by injury setbacks. Hamstring problems ruled him out of the first two Tests against the Springboks, before he was knocked unconscious in the ­victory over South Africa Barbarians in the week of the final Test.

However, Monye, who started the Lions first Test against South Africa in 2009, has made an impressive start to the season, scoring four tries in six matches for Harlequins.

He is now likely to push hard for a place on the wing in the starting line-up for the game against Fiji at Twickenham in Foden’s absence.

Foden has been ruled out of the four Tests, which will be critical in determining England’s seeding for the 2015 World Cup draw in December, after requiring surgery to an ankle injury he sustained playing for Northampton last month.

Lancaster, who will announce a squad update this morning, is also set to call up Saracens’ 21-year-old prop Mako Vunipola as a replacement for Alex Corbisiero, who has been on the sidelines since the South Africa tour with a knee injury.

Vunipola, who was born in New Zealand and hails from a famous Tongan rugby dynasty, is thought to have impressed the England coach to such an extent that he is expected to be fast-tracked into the national squad for the opening game against Fiji on Nov 10. He is likely to be named on the bench as cover for Harlequins’ loosehead prop Joe Marler.

With Bath hooker Rob Webber also out since the start of the season with a shoulder injury, Leicester hooker Tom Youngs is set to be called into the elite player squad, who are due to assemble at St George’s Park for a training camp next week.

Northampton flanker Tom Wood, who missed the Six Nations and summer tour because of a foot injury, and his club team-mate Courtney Lawes, whose only international action this year was off the bench in the Six Nations defeat by Wales in February, are available again having impressed in recent weeks for their club.

Meanwhile Lee Dickson, the Northampton Saints scrum-half, has fired a warning to England rivals Danny Care and Ben Youngs that he intends to win back the No 9 shirt for the autumn Test series next month.

Dickson finished last season’s Six Nations campaign as England’s first-choice scrum-half but then lost his place in the starting line-up to first Youngs and then Care during the summer tour of South Africa.

Both Youngs, having returned from a lengthy lay-off with a shoulder injury, and Care have been in sparkling form for Leicester and Harlequins. But Dickson, too, has been a key cog in Northampton’s trailblazing start, which has put them top of the Premiership with five wins from six.

The 27 year-old, who started last season’s Six Nations games against Wales, France and Ireland, is determined to make the battle for the No 9 shirt the most competitive of all the positions in Lancaster’s squad. Northampton’s Premiership match against fourth-placed Saracens on Saturday should give him the perfect platform to restate his international claims, having already won seven caps this year since making his debut off the bench against Scotland.

“I feel like I am on top of my game at the moment, I am getting the ball away very quickly, I feel fit and strong and come this weekend against Sarries it is another big test of myself and the way I want to play,” said Dickson, who has started all eight of Northampton’s games this season.

“Come the weekend I will be fired up for it, knowing that a big win for this club would be massive and from the England perspective, I want to really put my marker down. I finished the Six Nations off as the starting No 9 and I think I played really well in South Africa and this season I have done well.

“I got it in the Six Nations due to hard work and given the type of person that I am, I will always go down fighting. I want that starting jersey come November.”

Dickson believes his game has progressed since he broke into the England squad in the early stages of Lancaster’s tenure last season, while Care had been left out of the squad for disciplinary reasons and Youngs had lost his form after the World Cup campaign in New Zealand.